Plan Your Trip Times Picks

The 31 Places to Go in 2010

Published: January 7, 2010

Copenhageners don’t simply preach the “progressive city” ethos, they live it. Long, flat urban thoroughfares are hemmed with bicycle paths where locals glide around the city, tourists saddle up on the free bikes that dot the city center, and fashion bloggers take notes on the latest cycle chic (see copenhagencyclechic.com). Over in the harbor district, a public bath at Osterbro, due to open in 2010, will complement the two swimming areas set off on Copenhagen’s inner harbor, a formerly polluted waterway recently transformed into the city’s summertime hub.

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Away from all the modernism and the happy cyclists, cultural thrill-seekers are being coaxed to the once dangerous district of Norrebro, which has arguably become Copenhagen’s edgiest hub. A heady mix of hipsters, students and immigrants mingle in the cafes and galleries around the district’s focal square, Sankt Hans Torv, and the city’s young and excitable night owls can be found dancing in local clubs until the early hours. — Benji Lanyado

WAITING IN THE WINGS

6.Koh Kood
Is this the next Koh Samui? The Trat islands are emerging as Thailand’s new luxury outpost. Inaccessible for many years because of tensions with neighboring Cambodia and a poor transportation infrastructure, islands like Koh Kood are starting to draw venturesome paradise seekers, thanks in part to new direct flights to the port city of Trat. The recent opening of Soneva Kiri, a 42-villa suite retreat by the Six Senses brand (www.sixsenses.com/Soneva-Kiri), definitely ratchets up the high-end quotient on this Robinson Crusoe-like island. Coming soon: X2 Koh Kood (www.x2resorts.com), a designer eco-resort with 14 pool villas. — Gisela Williams

7.Damascus
The next Marrakesh? Perhaps mindful of the way that renovations of historic riads have drawn upscale travelers to Marrakesh, Damascus hoteliers are trying to mine tourism gold in the rundown buildings of the Syrian capital’s Old City. These 18th-century homes — many with inviting courtyards and rooftop terraces — are now boutique hotels, like the nine-room Old Vine (www.oldvinehotel.com) and the Hanania (www.hananiahotel.com), which doubles as a hotel and a small museum. — Don Duncan

8.Cesme
The next Bodrum? While revelers continue to descend upon that seaside retreat, another corner of Turkey’s Aegean coastline has begun to emerge as a stylish alternative: the once-sleepy villages of the Cesme Peninsula. The main draw is Alacati, a sheltered beach town that last summer was the site of the Professional Windsurfers Association Slalom World Cup. Scheduled to open in the spring, the seven-room Hotel Nars Alacati (www.nars.com.tr), set in a converted 19th-century mansion, promises to become the popular weekend gathering spot for Istanbul’s smart set, along with the adjoining garden restaurant, MesaLuna. — Andrew Ferren

9.Antarctica
This may be the last year that Antarctica is open to mass tourism — not because the ice is melting too fast (though it is), but because of restrictions that would severely curtail travel around the fragile continent.

Until recently, most vessels passing through Antarctica were limited to scientific expeditions, but an exploding number of tourists now flock to what is arguably the world’s last great wilderness. The tourism boom, scientists argue, poses a major environmental threat. Indeed, several passenger ships have run aground in recent years.

Countries that manage Antarctica are calling for limits on the number of tourist ships, for fortified hulls that can withstand sea ice and for a ban on the use of so-called heavy oils. A ban on heavy oil, which is expected to be adopted by the International Maritime Organization later this year, would effectively block big cruise ships.

With the new rules taking effect within two years, tour operators are promoting 2010 as the last year to visit Antarctica, while, at the same time, procuring lighter vessels that would be permitted. Abercrombie & Kent, for example, is introducing a new ship, Le Boreal (www.abercrombiekent.com), which its public relations firm argues “meets all the environmental regulations, so access to Antarctica via A&K will not be affected.”

Launching this year, the compact luxury ship holds 199 passengers and features an outdoor heated pool, steam rooms and private balconies that offer intimate views of some of the world’s remaining glaciers. — Denny Lee

10.Leipzig
In 2010, Leipzig, a small industrial city in the former East Germany with an illustrious past, will be marking the 325th anniversary of the birth of its former resident Johann Sebastian Bach and the 200th birthday of Robert Schumann with concerts, festivals and a reopened Bach Museum (www.bach-leipzig.de).

But the city’s cultural high note is likely to be the Neo Rauch retrospective opening in April at the Leipzig Museum of Fine Arts (www.mdbk.de), a show devoted to the father of the New Leipzig School of artists, a scene that for the past decade has been the toast of the contemporary art world. The art cognoscenti will also make their way to the Spinnerei (www.spinnerei.de), a former cotton mill that is home to 11 galleries, a cafe and a quirky new pension called the Meisterzimmer (www.meisterzimmer.de), with rooms starting at 50 euros, or $70 at $1.40 to the euro.

The cover article on Jan. 10 about 31 Places to Go in 2010 misidentified the opposing sides in the civil war that plagued Sri Lanka for a quarter century. The war was between the Sinhalese-dominated government and a separatist Tamil group, not between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority.

The article also misstated the length of time of a train trip between Hong Kong and Shenzhen and misidentified the type of train used. The trip is by commuter train, not by a bullet train, and the trip to Shenzhen from Hong Kong usually takes under 45 minutes, not an hour.

And the article referred incorrectly to the area of Montenegro in which a beach and an island are located. Velika Plaza, an eight-mile beach, and the island of Ada Bojana are on the southern edges of Montenegro, not the northern edges.